


Vulpes Vulpes

by Demus



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-11
Packaged: 2017-11-20 21:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/589807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demus/pseuds/Demus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Response to a prompt on the kink meme; Ace Attorney/His Dark Materials crossover. Investigating their mentor's murder, Phoenix Wright and his daemon Praesumelle finally complete their quest to meet Edgeworth (and Aequitila) in court, but will they ever be able to recover the man he used to be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vulpes Vulpes

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a snippet at present, feeling out for interest; I'm hoping to explore how the presence of daemons might affect the course of the games' narratives, focusing primarily on Phoenix's relationship with Edgeworth, possibly heading into slash territory.... let me know what you think! (Also, apologies to any scholars for my ignorant rape-and-pillaging of Latin...)

"Found anything yet, Praesumelle?"

Nose-deep in a pile of what Phoenix had referred to as 'potential clue candidates', his red fox daemon uttered a low growl. “There's nothing even remotely 'murdery' in here.”

“...'Murdery' isn't a word.”

“And _this_ is a pile of dirty laundry!” Praesumelle snarled, raising her head to fix him with a glare, shaking out her fur in disgust. “What has April May's dubious personal hygiene got to do with anything? We should be out on the streets, tracking Mia's real murderer.”

Phoenix sighed and turned back to the window; the view to the Fey & Co. offices was so clear that he could make out some of the titles on Mia's bookshelves. “We're not detectives, Prae. Besides, don't you think it's a little strange that Miss May paid to stay in such a fancy hotel and not had them do her laundry?” He turned back to gesture at the abandoned wine bottle, adding, “It's not like she hasn't had company! Why hasn't room service cleaned in here since last night?”

Unimpressed, Praesumelle abandoned the discarded clothes with a snort, trotting across the room to hop onto one of the chairs and, bracing her front paws on the table edge, lean up to sniff at the wine glasses. “Urgh, that perfume she wears is vile, I can't even smell her daemon around these things. Hey, Nick, how do you think he stands it?”

“Well, he's not canine, right?” he answered, reaching down to stroke her bright fur; she buried her nose into his sleeve, sniffing deeply as if to cleanse her nostrils. “Maybe it's not as overwhelming for him.”

“Minks aren't exactly noseless, you know.”

The attorney sighed again. “This is getting us nowhere. Come on, we'd better go before she comes out of the bathroom; maybe we should try interviewing Maya again?”

Praesumelle's ears flickered, twisting so she could listen to the sounds coming from the en suite. “Something tells me she'll be in there for a while. Didn't you want to check that drawer?”

*

Somehow, it would have been easier if they hadn't seen Edgeworth at all before the trial. As it was, Praesumelle broke away from comforting Maya's daemon (Flamen, not yet settled, was fluttering between forms, betraying Maya's anxiety) with a yap of surprise, darting towards the door of the defendants' lobby before Phoenix could stop her. He followed, concerned, and found her prancing excitedly in the corridor before an imposing maroon-clad figure, tail high and tongue lolling, mere seconds before she bowled herself playfully at the man's daemon.

“Praesumelle!” Phoneix gasped, horrified. Daemons might have their own etiquette far removed from human convention, but he was fairly certain that leaping on someone you hadn't been introduced to showed an appalling lack of manners. “Prae, what are you-”

“Ah. I should have known.”

 _That_ voice stopped him clean in his tracks. Shocked, he looked up from the tussling daemons to see familiar grey eyes, made unfamiliar by tense, pinched lines. The Demon Prosecutor nodded in greeting. “Mr Wright,” he said, apparently unperturbed by his presence. The corner of his mouth curled, ever-so-slightly, and he added, “I see Praesumelle has lost none of her impetuousness.”

Phoenix found himself rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, a nervous habit he'd never quite been able to shake. “Yeah, she's always...” He trailed off, the full enormity of the situation finally striking him, and felt his mouth gape open once more. He pointed, shakily, at the happily wrestling daemons. "E- Edgeworth...Aequitila, she's-"

At the mention of her name, Edgeworth's daemon paused in her vigorous grooming of Praesumelle's ears (much to the red fox daemon's audible disappointment) and her tail lowered, swinging with Edgeworth's irritation. The prosecutor himself merely quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, Wright? Your point?"

Praesumelle's amusement bloomed warm in Phoenix's mind as he struggled to regain his composure. "She- She settled...a-as a-"

"As all daemons do, yes. Did you wish to make any further banal observations?"

"She's a _fox_ , Edgeworth!"

"Hmm."

“I hate to side with him, Nick, but that _was_ pretty banal,” Praesumelle giggled, nosing through the thick ruff of white fur at Aequitila's neck; the Arctic fox daemon closed her eyes, ears flickering forwards. 

Phoenix just stared. "Well, I...It's just, I was expecting something a bit less...cuddly. She was always trying dragons on for size at school."

Edgeworth bristled, his lips setting in a grim line, and Aequitila abruptly abandoned Praesumelle, running to be scooped hastily up and cradled against his chest. “Things...change,” he said, as though nothing had happened. His fingers wound into Aequitila's thick fur, an oddly childish gesture. Abruptly, he said, “I have an unbeaten record here, Wright. Prepare yourself for failure.”

And with that, he was gone.

The defense attorney watched him leave, feeling an unaccountable urge to scoop Praesumelle up in a similar fashion. She had moved whilst Edgeworth spoke, pressing herself close to Phoenix's legs, and her confusion was a palpable tingle in his chest, matched only by his own bemusement. “What happened to them?” she asked, a little mournfully. “All this time, and he's so cold...and since when was Tila afraid of _anything_?”

“Fifteen years is a long time,” Phoenix said, softly. He, too, was struggling to reconcile the man he'd just met with the boy who'd defended him all those years ago; the Miles he remembered was honest in everything, particularly his emotions. How could he grow into someone so callous? So ruthless?

And yet, Praesumelle was right, it had been fear that sent Aequitila leaping back to her human, fear that made Edgeworth's hands clench into fists...What could Miles Edgeworth possibly be so very frightened of?


End file.
